new-home sales bolster housing market in county

The San Diego housing market ended 2011 with a mixed bag: Median home prices dropped from a year ago, but sales rose during the year-end rush to close, based on DataQuick’s December report on Tuesday.

The median price of a home in the county last month was $315,000, unchanged since September but down 5.4 percent when compared to December 2010.

The county recorded 3,311 sales, up 20.2 percent from November and up 3.8 percent from the year prior. What bolstered transactions was the new-home market. Sales rose from 208 to 318, or 52.9 percent when comparing November to December.

“It’s normal for sales to jump between November and December, in part because some investors want to close their deals before year’s end for tax reasons,” said the real estate tracking company’s analysis.

DataQuick President John Walsh said December’s picture in Southern California looked much like the one when 2011 began: heavy investor presence, lots of activity in the sub-$300,000 market and lower-than-normal new home sales.

San Diego fell into the middle of the pack among its SoCal peers in price change. Ventura County saw the steepest value drop at 8.5 percent, while San Bernardino saw the smallest decline at 1.3 percent.

Here’s a closer look at San Diego County’s submarkets in December:

Resale homes: The median price in December was $337,000, down 2.3 percent from November and down 6.4 percent from December 2010. Sales, however, shot up, hinting that buyers are still on the hunt for lower-priced inventory.

Resale condos: Prices remained flat from November at $205,000 but are 3.5 percent lower than a year ago. Sales shot up month-to-month, which is typical for the end of the year. On a year-over-year basis, transactions saw little change at 0.4 percent.

New homes: Sales in this area rose the most among all housing categories when comparing December to November. Transactions increased almost 53 percent.